Exodus 19:3, commentary and pictures

Moses went up Mount Sinai alone by a steep path to meet God in the cloud soon after Israel encamped before the mount in the third month after leaving Egypt. There the Lord called to him out of the mountain, who was Christ the Maker of the law, commissioning him to speak His words to the house of Jacob, meaning the household and descendants of Jacob, the children of Israel. The message first recalled what God had done in bearing them on eagles' wings from Egypt to Himself, then set the condition that if they would sincerely obey His voice and keep His covenant they would be His peculiar treasure above all people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, greatly blessed and cared for. Moses laid this covenant offer before the elders, and the people answered together that they would do all the Lord had spoken, thereby becoming His denominated people pledged to obey Him as their ruler. That covenant word spoken to Jacob and Israel takes in every believer now, still binding as refuge and defense, promising the same treasured, priestly, holy standing to all who faithfully obey.

Sinai Setting and Ascent

Moses went up Mount Sinai to God soon after Israel encamped there, going up alone by a steep and rugged path to the cloud marking Jehovah's presence to meet with God and receive the divine message to carry to the people. He went up the mountain where the Lord called to him and appointed and commissioned and charged and directed him to carry the message to the house of Jacob, the children of Israel. This took place as Israel camped in the wilderness before the mountain, in preparation for God to proclaim His law.

This happened in the third month after going forth out of Egypt, when Israel had departed from Rephidim and come into the wilderness of Sinai and camped before the mount. Israel had left Egypt and camped before the mountain after leaving Egypt, and God was preparing the people to hear His law and enter a covenant with Him. The setting is Israel's arrival and preparation at Sinai to hear God proclaim His law and to enter a covenant with Him, after being led through the wilderness out of Egyptian bondage toward Canaan. God delivered Israel from Egypt so they could keep that law, which had been given in Eden, and He had called Israel out of Egypt to become a people who would reveal His character to the nations, with obedience to His word able to bring them into the promised land sooner. The laws given to them in the cloud are part of a divine plan whose full meaning will be unfolded in the future life.

During the wilderness wandering God led Israel to Sinai and there amid awful grandeur proclaimed the ten commandments. The law was given with awe-inspiring signs, and its words apply to God's people as surely as they applied to ancient Israel. The Lord's meeting with Israel at Sinai proclaimed His law in the hearing of all the people after Israel had been brought out of Egypt, to preserve people from apostasy and idolatry. The meeting was to take Israel into a close and peculiar relation to the Most High, incorporating them as a church and a nation under the government of God. The chapter is the setting in which God's law was spoken from Sinai, making obedience to that law education taught by God.

Divine Voice and Messenger

The LORD called to Moses out of the mountain after Moses went up to God, commissioning him to say the message to the house of Jacob and tell it to the children of Israel. The house of Jacob and the children of Israel mean Jacob's descendants and household, the Israelites. That commissioning opens God's message recalling His deliverance of Israel from Egypt and from the Egyptians to bring them to Himself, calling them to obey His voice and keep His covenant as His treasured people, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. It appoints Israel to a special covenant role as the Lord's peculiar and chosen people, with obedience as their privilege bringing fuller understanding of duty.

Moses serves as the appointed messenger through whom God announces the covenant and its requirements to Israel. God Himself gives the words, and by them He calls His people to account for His acts of deliverance and for their covenant obligations. The One calling and speaking to Moses out of the mountain by word of mouth was Christ, the Maker of the law who knew every part and principle of it. Israel's leaders failed to recognize Him as the source of the law and the foundation of their ceremonies.

The words given there are the words of God and a standard of absolute completeness, the perfection of the Saviour's character. The events show that God could make His will known in His own voice, yet He also chooses people to carry His truth to others. The mountain is where Moses draws near to understand God's will, and the verse is an example of drawing near to God to understand what He commands and then obeying it in connection with His covenant and the call to obey His commandments.

Covenant Offer and Promises

Exodus 19:3 opens God's covenant proposal and message to Israel, introducing the terms by which they would become His special, peculiar people with a special covenant role. The charge to say it to the house of Jacob and tell it to the children of Israel begins the account of their choosing and appointment under that covenant. It sets forth the charter by which Israel was to be incorporated, given in the third month after leaving Egypt when they came to the wilderness of Sinai.

The message first looks back to what God had done, reminding them that they had seen what was done to the Egyptians. He had rescued Israel from Egypt and from the Egyptians, bearing them on eagles' wings and bringing them to Himself. That deliverance is recalled as the ground of the covenant He now offers and the instruction regarding His requirements that follows in simple language.

God then lays down the condition: if they will indeed sincerely obey His voice and keep His covenant, and not merely profess to worship Him. Obeying is set before them as their privilege, and obedience brings a fuller understanding of duty. Their acceptance with God depends on faithfully fulfilling the covenant's terms.

If they comply, He promises they will be His treasured possession, a peculiar treasure above all people, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. He will greatly bless them, honor them, manifest His love and power upon them, and constantly care for them. By this covenant Israel denominated themselves as a nation that would obey Him, and were incorporated as a church and a nation under the government of God. They had been delivered from Egyptian slavery that they might gain a knowledge of God they had never before had. The covenant is thus presented as their refuge and defense, and receiving God's mercies and blessings means observing and valuing His instruction for their good and to honor His name.

Israel's Pledge and Failure

Moses laid the covenant message before the elders of Israel, and the whole people answered together that they would do all the Lord had spoken. They gave that united answer with upraised hand as a solemn covenant, by which they became His denominated people pledged to obey all the commandments. In so answering they accepted Him as their ruler and entered into covenant with Him upon the terms He had offered of deliverance remembered and obedience required.

That pledge prepared the way for God to declare He would come to Moses in the thick cloud to speak with him, so that the people would hear and believe him forever. It led also to the command to sanctify the people and to set bounds around the mount before God gave the ten commandments. God then came down with thunder and lightning and thick cloud, with trumpet and smoke and fire and quaking of the mount, as evidence that He was God who would not bear iniquity.

While Moses was with the Lord in the mount for forty days, the children of Israel were left for the time under the leadership of Aaron. In that short time of test they failed, showing how quickly they turned from the way God had marked out for them.

Covenant Claim on Today

The word addressed to the house of Jacob and the children of Israel takes in every one of us now and belongs to all present believers. It was spoken three months after the departure from Egypt to introduce the Lord's reminder of deliverance and His covenant, and that covenant promise extends to our time and applies to every soul. The message to Israel applies to God's Israel for as long as people live on earth, in connection with the seventh day.

The Sinai covenant is still in force today. It remains still binding as refuge and defense. It was perpetual, to be held sacred to a thousand generations. Its terms begin with God's reminder that He rescued Israel from Egypt and brought them to Himself, then set forth that if they obey His voice and keep it they will be His treasured people, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.

These words are written for people now as truly as for Israel then. The law given with awe-inspiring signs applies to God's people as surely as it applied to ancient Israel. The covenant pledge applies to God's people in the last days, recalling God's delivering and bringing them to Himself and promising the treasured-people, kingdom-of-priests, holy-nation place upon sincere obedience. It includes all who obey His Word, and acceptance with God depends on faithfully fulfilling its terms.

God must bring each person to Himself before He can work through that person in the great work of preparing a people to stand in the day of the Lord. It is each person's individual duty and responsibility to understand what God means and to do whatever He bids and commands. As God dealt with His ancient people at Sinai He will deal with those today who despise the Word of the Lord and refuse to humble their proud hearts before the wisdom and righteousness of God. Those in positions of responsibility must not follow Aaron's example of weakness and yielding during the forty days Moses was with the Lord in the mount when Israel failed its short time of test, but stand firm for the principles of righteousness.

Law, Sabbath and Obedience

The chapter stands at the Lord's coming to Sinai to give Israel His law and to join promises to the keeping of His commandments, and the call from the mountain belongs to instruction that people are to obey. Exodus 19 and 20 are instruction of great importance, to be repeated again and again, to be faithfully obeyed and sacredly observed. The opening word to the house of Jacob begins God's statement of His requirements, to be told in simple language as the reason for observing the seventh day. In that setting it upholds the call for God's people to obey His Word and keep holy the memorial of creation, the seventh-day Sabbath.

God's claim to obedience includes keeping the Sabbath as His holy memorial, rather than observing the first day in honor of a power opposed to God. The Word of the Lord for observance of the seventh day is to be read before congregations instead of entering into controversy over Sunday laws, exalting a plain Thus saith the Lord so that responsibility rests on those who reject it and their controversy is with God. The ascent is an example of drawing near to God to understand what He commands and then obeying it, for the mountain is where Moses draws near to understand God's will in connection with the covenant and the call to obey His commandments. The words given there are the words of God, a standard of absolute completeness and the perfection of the Saviour's character, to be beheld in Christ today and tomorrow in families and in the church and to be taught diligently to the youth.

The call out of the mountain opens the history Israel was to carry out, and that message calls for a pledge of obedience. Those who pledge themselves are proved when they come into a hard place, and many do not stand the proving but begin to murmur and complain and fret against the Lord. It would be better in perplexity to kneel in simplicity and ask the Lord God of Israel for help, as He gave water to show His great kindness, and the Lord would be pleased with that. God had called Israel out of Egypt to become a people who would reveal His character to the nations, and obedience to His word would have brought them into the promised land sooner. The laws given to them in the cloud are part of a divine plan whose full meaning will be unfolded in the future life.